There are three that come to mind. The first was the worst in that I hit a large whitetail poorly after four hours in a tree stand in single digit weather. When he paused by a bedded doe about ten yards from my stand, I was so cold I could barely get my recurve to full draw. Instead of through the chest my shot went through his huge neck and though I was initially hopeful, he did not bleed well and the snow was mostly gone. I lost him after spending that day and part of the next trying to find him. Someone else did and eventually offered to sell the rack to me. I shouldn't have taken the shot though he was the buck I'd been patterning and went about the160-170's.

I missed a 6x6 bull elk in Co as he was bedded broadside across a small canyon from me. The range was ~ 225-250 yds as nearly as I could figure if I was remembering my geometry correctly though the answer could lie in the fact he was significantly further than I realized (pre-LRF use). Should of been DRT with no difficulty as I was sitting and had a good rest against a quaky. No hair; no blood and tracked him in the snow for an hour before it became apparent he was completely unscathed. Have no idea what happened. On that shot I also had the apparently very rare pleasantry of a Rem 700 extractor breaking in half.

The third was a beautiful taupe colored black bear in the Bob marshal that was feeding behind a dead fall so only his head and neck were visible. I had to watch him for awhile to determine he was a blackie and not his bigger cousin due to the color. Had about 150 yard shot with just head and neck visible but it should not have been a problem at all. Again, complete miss on a real trophy animal for me anyway. No blood; no hair and again I had no ready explanation for the miss.

There was a fourth. A big bull, about ~ 350-375, in a late CO hunt in January. He was at a ranged 350 yards and I took two "good" shots only to see him run away. Turns out earlier I had slid down a rockslide knocking my POI off a foot to the right at a hundred yards, some forty inches at the bull's position.

No harm no foul on the last three but I admit to poor decision making and ethics on the first and I regret it even more as I get older.